Chamshir Dam, Sustainable Development, Zohreh River

Mohammadreza Fazel¹

1) Executive Vice President of Water and Power Company, Chamshir Dam and Power Plant

IOI Code : AACH-AABBZB
Publication : 7th.International Conference & 8th.National Conference on Civil Engineering, Architecture, Art and Urban Design(8iccacs.ir)
Abstract :
    The Zohreh River originates from the mountains in the northwest of Fars Province, east of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer Ahmad, and is also influenced by the Fahlian, Shiv, and Ab Shirin rivers. After traveling 520 kilometers, it enters the Persian Gulf through Hendijan. Before the construction of the Chamshir Dam, no large storage structures or reservoirs had been built on this river, and therefore there was no possibility of quantitative and qualitative management of the river during times of flood or water shortage.On the other hand, further along the route and about 100 kilometers below the construction site of the Chamshir Dam, there is the intersection of the Zohreh and Khairabad rivers, which, after joining, form the Big Zohreh River. Despite its lower annual flow than the Small Zohreh, the Khairabad River is in good condition in terms of quality and can be used for drinking water.The Zohreh River is small and before reaching the Chamshir Dam construction site, it has a water regime and an average flow of about 1.7 billion cubic meters per year, with more than 70 percent of the river s flow occurring during flood periods and about 3 months of the year, and the rest of the annual flow volume passing through during 9 months of the year.This caused high-quality water to pass through the path in the form of floods, without the possibility of proper use, especially during the days when there was less agricultural need for water. On the other hand, during the rest of the year, we would witness the passage of water with a very low flow rate of about 5 cubic meters per second and with lower quality.In these circumstances, in order to control the quality of water needed downstream, especially in the areas of Hendijan, Sardasht, and Zeydon, we were forced to use more drinking water from the Kausar Dam (on the Khairabad River). This type of quantitative and qualitative water management resulted in the loss of drinking water for agriculture, which at times of the year led to a drinking water crisis for the region.The idea of ​​constructing the Chamshir Dam on the Zohreh River dates back to the early 1970s, and since then, at various times, studies have been conducted in this regard until around 1994. With the completion of the studies and allocation of resources, the implementation of the project began in earnest in 1992, and finally, the dam began to be filled in 1993.In the two and a half years since the dam was built, we have witnessed the very positive impact of this project on the quantitative and qualitative control of the Zohreh River, which we will describe below.

Keywords : sustainable development chamshir dam zohreh river flood agriculture